An Old Mare's Tale
by DeadManSleeping
Summary: Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria, there were two regal sisters who ruled together, and created harmony for all the land, etc. You already knew that. Here's the part of the story they don't tell you.
1. Chapter 1

"Luna? Luuunaaa?"

The voice of Princess Celestia, one normally so gentle that birds would fall weeping, resounded through Everfree Castle. The enchanted walls carried its echo through even the highest towers, in one of which happened to dwell its intended recipient.

Princess Luna stirred in her hiding spot. At least sleeping somewhere other than her room had gotten her a bit of extra time. But she knew that if she stayed up in the observatory any longer, Celestia would start to worry, and Celestia got a little crazy when she was truly worried. With a sigh, Luna took to her wings and flew down the spiral staircase, and into the throne room. "Yes, Celestia?"

Celestia's normal expression of serenity was completely absent from her face. She was, instead, looking positively frazzled. "Luna, it's been half an hour since the moon should have been up! I've had to keep the sun on the horizon the entire time so that the sky doesn't go black. Where have you been?"

"Sleeping in," Luna replied curtly, though her horn glowed as she raised the moon into the sky.

"Luna! How can you care so little about your duties?" Celestia's voice had the slightest hint of anger, just about the worst it ever got.

"Nopony else seems to care if the night comes. I bet they were all happy to get an extra-long sunset before bed." Luna turned and went to go down one of the corridors.

Celestia bit her lip. She had actually heard some of the castle ponies admiring the prolonged sunset. "Well, perhaps for one day. I mean, twilight is very beautiful…"

"Oh, Princess, you speak too kindly of me." A unicorn with a red-orange coat and mane of the darkest purple trotted down from one of the towers. A pile of books and scrolls in a cart followed behind him, the wood of the cart audibly creaking under the weight. By the look on his face, he was already starting to regret trying to say something clever.

"Twilight Sage," Princess Celestia replied, her voice returning to its normal calm, "if you need to do more research, stay in the library. Don't bring the entire thing with you." She couldn't help but smile when the young scholar made one of his rare attempts to sound self-confident. He was normally far too intimidated by social situations to even speak up. However, his outstanding performance at the Royal Academy had earned him tutelage under the Princesses, who ended up spending more time teaching him to be less of a shut-in than anything else.

"I'm afraid, Princess, that I need to go into town with all of these. I have to see Shimmerdust about some glass lenses, and these books have all the research that needs to be referenced."

"Lenses?" Princess Luna spoke up from the back. Twilight Sage was one of the few ponies she knew well, since he slept so irregularly that he saw as many nights as days. "You don't need glasses. You don't even need a monocle. Are you getting a fake monocle? I know you've always wanted one."

Celestia smirked, "Or maybe that's not what you're actually going to see her for."

"Erm, beg pardon, Princess?"

" Really, Twilight, nopony would visit a lens shop as frequently as you even if they did need glasses. Perhaps there are…other needs you were going to have young Shimmerdust attend to?"

Twilight Sage blushed a bit. "Uh, not today, I'm afraid. I think I've devised a way to arrange lenses that will magnify things in a way that eyewear never could. I hope it could even show us something as distant as the stars. Perhaps gain more insight into their strange orbits, or why some shine more brightly than others. But it will take a lot of work. And that's why I'm going to town now, since Shimmerdust should just be opening shop for the morning."

"It's night," the two princesses said in unison.

Twilight Sage lost his smile. "Oh. Oh, dear. Well…I suppose I should go to bed. We've gone uncounted years without seeing the stars up close. Another eight hours can't do us too much harm." Head low, he slowly walked back to the library.

"Oh, please tell me he isn't planning to sleep up there," Celestia said mostly to herself. She turned when she heard hooves walking the other direction behind her. "Luna? Where are you going? You should be on your throne holding court to hear petitions."

Luna didn't even turn to address her sister, "As if anypony will show up." She disappeared around a corner.

"Luna? Luna, wait!" Celestia galloped, hoping to catch up with her before she was lost in the corridors of Everfree Castle. Unfortunately, it was too late. Luna was an incredibly elusive pony even when she was in plain view, much less when she managed to get out of sight. The princess heaved a sigh and decided to make sure all the other royal duties were attended to. No doubt Luna was presently neglecting to attend to the rest of the castle. "I just wish that filly would let me talk to her," Celestia said to nopony in particular. "she's been getting more and more antisocial."

After a short trot, she arrived at the castle barracks. It was not a very large room, since soldiers were quartered in homes in the city of Everfree, using the barracks as mostly an armory. Equestria had lost the need for a strong standing army long before the sisters divine were even born. Still, the Royal Guard was kept at full strength, and somepony needed to keep them updated on the time change so that the shifts could get organized. As it stood, the Day Guard was just returning to the barracks, alabaster-coated ponies (mostly pegasi and unicorns) removing gilded armor. All except for one pegasus, who wore an illustrious captain's uniform. Though her uniform was enough to separate her from the crowd, she stood out more because of her tail of orange and yellow, like a blazing fire.. Celestia sighed and approached the captain.

"Flash Burn, you have been on shift for over a day now. You need to go home. Let Captain Pavise do his job." The two Night Guard ponies bowed and quickly fled to their posts. The fiery captain bowed as well, but stayed.

"I'm sorry, Your Majesty, but it's necessary, Your Majesty. The notorious criminal, 'Dark Blur', is becoming more troublesome, Your Majesty, and he continues to evade us, Your Majesty." Celestia held in her sigh. The entire Day Guard idolized Flash Burn for her talent and her steadfastness, but the princesses both found her incessant formality a bit wearying. Neither princess particularly cared to be called "Your Majesty" in the first place, but no matter how often they told the captain, she didn't seem to be able to stop. The princess glared at the captain.

"Flash Burn, you can't let your obsession with that scoundrel keep you from doing your job. Go home and get some sleep, or I'll have you placed under house arrest and make you. I've been responsible for the sleep schedules of enough ponies today."

Flash Burn gave the princess a quizzical look, "Your Majesty?"

"Luna slept in, Twilight Sage decided to spend all day holed up in his office, and now this. Really, I think something might be in the air. It's even getting to me." Celestia's expression softened again. She realized that she too had been acting a bit stressed lately. "I'm sorry, Flash, for snapping at you. I…Flash?" Celestia just realized that the fiery pegasus was adrift in thought, beginning to blush. The princess quickly realized that she shouldn't have said the 'T' word.

"Obsessing over my advisor isn't a good reason to stay out of bed either, my little pony."

Flash Burn's blush began to cover her entire face. "Your Majesty, I…wasn't…Your Majesty, it…Your Majesty-"

Celestia leaned in, smiling and nuzzling the pegasus affectionately, "Go to bed, and I'll see you in the morning." She pushed Flash Burn in the direction of the door, and the pegasus trotted off, obeying the princess' request.

"I swear," said the princess to herself, "sometimes it feels like I have to take care of the world by myself."

Celestia woke up as the moonset stirred something primordial inside her. A quick look at the grand clock opposite her bed confirmed that it was indeed time for sunrise. She stretched out her limbs as she willed the sun to rise into the sky, and light crept into her eastern window. She took a look in the mirror to confirm that, as usual, she had a severe case of bedhead. It took ten minutes of brushing to get her pink mane and tail to fall straight. Keeping up the appearance of the perfect princess was rather annoying sometimes. After a quick check to make sure she hadn't missed any patches of tangle, she trotted off to the grand hall.

Celestia was surprised to see her younger sister sitting at the foot of the Night Throne, chatting with a green-on-green earth pony of indistinguishable gender. She attempted to approach quietly, but it was no use. Her hooves on the stone floor rang throughout the chamber. Luna and the earth pony turned to look at her.

"Luna, while I appreciate you holding court, you're supposed to actually sit on the throne when you do it," Celestia said with a smirk. Luna went wide-eyed.

"Oh! Yes. Court. I was...holding it. On the floor. I, uh...thought it would be...a good idea. To get closer to subjects. Like, closer, physically. But also, um...that other thing. Personally. Yeah." She gave her most adorable smile.

"But Luna," the green earth pony said quietly, "when I caught you here, you said you were just on your way to-mphphl!" The pony's mouth was suddenly full of silver-shod hoof. Luna looked even more worried, but Celestia just giggled.

"It's all right, Luna. I didn't need Amaranth to tell me you weren't being entirely truthful." The younger princess looked down at the floor guiltily. "Will you just promise me that you'll actually hold court tomorrow night?"

"But nopony comes," Luna whined.

"Oh, really? Would you like to know how many petitioners I see complaining that they come night after night for an audience, only to find an empty throne room?"

Luna responded in a flat voice, "Two this week, one last week, three the week before that, and-"

"Okay, okay!" Celestia had forgotten how disturbingly well-informed her sneak of a sister could be. "Look, I know that's not a great number compared to how many ponies come during the day, but I should be hearing zero complaints. We have a responsibility to all of Equestria, and these marks on our flanks to prove it." Celestia gestured towards her own flank, while looking at Luna's. The symbols that adorned their coats distinguished them from all the other ponies, even more than their possession of both horn and wing.

"Yeah, yeah," Luna rolled her eyes, sounding like she was chanting something by rote, "you with that big ol' beauty mark."

"And you with your cutie mark." Celestia nudged her sister gently. As often as she said it, her affectionate name for Luna's royal symbol never failed to make the younger princess smile. "Now, do you promise me you'll actually hold court?"

Luna heaved a sigh, "Okay, okay, I promise." She didn't actually sound sad or resentful.

"Now, off to bed with you."

Luna gave her sister one last hug, and headed up to her quarters. "See you tomorrow, Amaranth."

"Good day, Princess," responded the earth pony. His eyes followed Celestia as she climbed upon her throne. "Would you like to hear my report, Princess?"

"Yes, Agricultural Minister Amaranth, I would love to." The green pony knelt in front of the Day Throne.

"All the farms in the province of Everfree are reporting in normal. The flood in Trottingham was mostly averted, but some of the outlying farms were hit. There's already a relief effort underway. Uh...I think." Amaranth looked down. Celestia was unsurprised that he wasn't quite sure. His organizational skills were quite poor. "Damarescus seems to have finally dealt with those strange locusts. Apparently a wandering bard found a way to get rid of them. I didn't quite figure out what they meant. Zebrica should be sending everything on schedule."

There was an awkward pause. "And the royal garden?"

Amaranth perked up, "Ah, yes, well, the honeybee population is stable, and the tomatoes and oranges are coming in, and the hyacinths are doing just great!" The green pony was positively beaming. Celestia knew that there was nothing he loved more than tending to the royal garden.

Amaranth continued talking, but Celestia was distracted by a sight over in the distance. An unusual clattering of armor was quickly followed by a strangely contended-looking earth pony trotting into the throne room. She was dark brown, but her flowing auburn hair made her impossible to miss.

"Any problems, Amaranth?"

"Ah, yes, well, I've been having trouble keeping the morning glory off the wall..." the brown pony was now directly behind him.

"That's because I come through the front gate, dearie."

Amaranth literally jumped into the air. "Ah! Miss, I didn't see you there. I, uh, of course meant the flower. I mean, I know you're also Morning Glory, but I was referring to the decoration. Not that you aren't decorative! I mean pretty! I mean-" Amaranth simply began galloping away.

The brown pony held a hoof to her mouth to delicately conceal a giggle. "You knew exactly which flowers he was having trouble with, didn't you."

Celestia looked aside with fake guilt, "I'm not sure what you could possibly mean, Morning Glory." She couldn't keep the facade for long, and began to giggle herself. "Perhaps it may have been a little too much for the poor thing."

"Is Princess Luna here? I wanted to see her before she went off to bed."

"Sorry, you just missed her. Don't worry, she'll be holding court tomorrow night. I made her promise."

Morning Glory looked downcast, "Oh, I simply can't come tomorrow. Top Hat is holding quite the soiree that evening, and if I miss it, I'll lose the chance to meet some very influential ponies."

"Well, I'm afraid you'll just have to decide between playing your little political games and being there for your friend."

The earth pony glared at the Princess. "Oh, you're just loving this, aren't you. I know you don't like the way I work, Princess, but not all of us can simply wave our hoofs around and effect social change. My 'little games' are what got equal rights for zebras passed through the senate."

The princess never let her smile drop. "You know I appreciate your work, Morning Glory. But, you know, the night court lasts until morning. You can always stay up and go after the party."

"Well, not if somepony wants to take me home," Morning Glory said quietly. Celestia was thankful of how little she had to see of that side of politics. Ponies like Morning Glory took care of the backroom deals that the princess had no stomach for. She worried that her younger sister might be a bit more inclined towards such things, but she trusted her. Luna made good choices in friends, ponies like Morning Glory who had good hearts, even if they played dirty.

"I'm sorry, dear. I'll let her know you stopped in, okay? Meanwhile- oh, good morning Twilight Sage!"

The unicorn was once again descending from the tower with his cart, which, Princess Celestia noted, was even more laden than it was last night. "Good morning, Princess." Twilight Sage turned his head and noticed the earth pony at the foot of the throne, "Hey, what's the story, Morning Glory?"

Morning Glory rolled her eyes, "Twilight Sage, if you think I find that even the slightest bit original or clever, you've spent more time cooped up in that library than I originally thought." Twilight gave her a guilty look and turned to head out the main gate.

"Oh, Twilight, you're heading to see Shimmerdust now?"

"Yes. I even checked the clock this time. She'll be opening soon. I can't be sure how long it will take to go over specifics, but I promise I'll be back in a few hours. This will probably need to be a multi-day project. At least I'll get good exercise bringing the books back and forth." Sage's cart groaned in response.

Celestia thought for a moment. "You know, this really seems like an important project. Why don't you take a few days of special assignment? You'll get your work done a lot faster if it's not broken up into tiny pieces, and you can keep the books all in the same place you're working."

Twilight Sage looked surprised. "Oh, really? Thank you, Princess!" He began to smile as he once again continued out the gate.

"And I'm sure you and Shimmerdust could use the alone time." Twilight Sage began to speed more quickly out of the room. Celestia swore she could almost hear his blush in his hoofsteps.

Morning Glory took a seat by the side of the throne. "I'm not sure why you let him carry on like that. It's not befitting for someone of the Court to take time for dalliances with some commoner out in the lower quarters of Everfree."

"Morning Glory, you carouse with commoners from the lower quarters all the time."

"And I am a commoner, not part of the Court. Besides, it's all an important part of my work."

"So that little mare you snuck into the garden last week was part of some big power struggle?"

Morning Glory averted her eyes. "Well, I'm sure she was important to someone. Her father never seems to let her go anywhere. Someone needed to teach him what happens when you don't let your daughter have fun with colts."

"I see," Princess Celestia responded simply. "Well, how about you tell me what's going on in politics outside the bedroom."

Morning Glory began to fill the princess in on the various affairs of the Court. There was much hidden from the eyes of the princess that most political ponies wanted to stay that way. It was because of spies like Morning Glory that the royal sisters seemed so all-knowing and savvy.

Near the end of the briefing, a whistling sound began emanating from one of the adjoining corridors. It quickly grew louder, until finally, it erupted as a blazing streak burst into the room's center. The blur solidified at the foot of Celestia's throne into the form of Captain Flash Burn, in full uniform.

"Captain Flash Burn and the Day Guard reporting for duty, Your Majesty."

"What Day Guard?" Princess Celestia asked in an amused tone. Flash Burn looked to her right and left. Surely enough, she was alone. A furious fluttering of wings from the same corridor heralded a number of pegasi attempting to catch up, followed by the hoofbeats of a number of unicorns and earth ponies. Out of breath, they stumbled into ranks around their captain.

"Uh, apologies, Your Majesty." The Day Guard all glared at the captain. They would have been on time if she had started their march off on time. "I...I slept in."

Princess Celestia burst into laughter. "Perhaps next time you'll sleep every night so you don't have to catch up?"

Flash Burn's eyes were glued to the floor. "Yes, Your Majesty."

"Alright, that's enough fun for the morning. Back to work."

"Yes, Your Majesty." Flash Burn stood up straight, still facing the princess. "Day Guard! Stations!" The entire Day Guard dispersed in a quick, orderly fashion to fill the castle and the streets of Everfree's upper quarter. Flash Burn remained in the throne room.

"Hey, what's the story, Morning Glory?" she said addressing the pony by the princess' side.

"Oh, Flashie, you're such a card," Morning Glory giggled in reply. The two walked towards each other and bumped their heads affectionately.

"So, how did you get in today?"

"Oh, you know, the guards know I'm allowed in here," Morning Glory waved a hoof in the air dismissively.

"Really?" Flash Burn raised an eyebrow inquisitively. "Because they're still under strict orders to keep you out of the castle."

"Oh. Ah, well, if you must know, young Lieutenant Destrier seems to fall to pieces when a lady brushes her flank against him just so." She demonstrated on Flash Burn, causing the captain's cheeks to go flush.

"Uh, you do know he's married, right?"

"Really? Well, introduce me to his wife sometime, and I'll teach her all about it." This simply caused Flash Burn to blush even more. A soft throat-clearing from the throne quieted both of the ponies.

"Perhaps, captain, you'd like to give me more information on your plans for the day?"

"Oh, yes, Your Majesty." Flash Burn once again bowed before the throne. "Normally, Dark Blur is inactive during the daytime, Your Majesty, but we believe that if we find a forensic specialist, Your Majesty, we may be able to figure out where he's staying based on his activity pattern, Your Majesty."

"Very good, captain. You should get to that."

"I'm sorry," piped up Morning Glory, "but did you say 'Dark Blur'?"

"Yeah, that's what he calls himself, we think," replied Flash Burn, rising. "Why, you know anything about him?"

"Me? Oh, no, I wouldn't know anything about that sort of thing. It just sounded odd, was all."

"Strange that you've never heard of him," said Princess Celestia, "since he's quite the plague on the nobles."

"Ahaha, well, yes, one can miss the occasional thing. It's not like I've ever had a run-in with him. I don't actually live in the upper quarter, you know." She waved her hoof in the air dismissively.

"Sometimes I forget," Flash Burn chuckled. The princess laughed as well.

"Well, Flash Burn, since you're headed to the lower quarter, there's a certain glass shop you may want to stop by. Twilight Sage is headed off to get some lenses. If you see him there, you can ask him about Dark Blur."

The captain's face lit up. "Oh! I, uh, yes, Your Majesty. I'll go do that, Your Majesty." In an instant, Flash Burn took off, leaving a trail like a flame.

Morning Glory glared at Princess Celestia once more. "Surely you can't be encouraging that foolish little crush she has on your advisor."

"I'm not encouraging it," Princess Celestia replied with a knowing smile, "and don't call me Shirley."

"Wait, what? Ooh!" the earth pony winced as she understood the princess' joke. "Nevermind. Why are you sending Flash Burn out to see Twilight Sage if you're not trying to get them together?"

"Because, my little pony, Flash Burn will be traveling to the shop as fast as she can, while Twilight Sage is trotting along laden with books. When Flash Burn arrives to inquire after him, the only pony who will be there to answer her will be Twilight Sage's filly-friend." Celestia's smirk got wider as she waited for realization to dawn on her confidante.

"Oh. Ohhhhhh. That was sneaky, Princess. I'm not rubbing off on you, am I?"

"Goodness, I hope not," Celestia replied in a jocular tone. Both of them laughed.

A few minutes passed before an alabaster pegasus in armor walked into the throne room. "Princess Celestia, requesting permission to open the gates to the public."

The princess smiled down at the guard. "Lieutenant Destrier, I thought you had already done that. Why, look who's sitting right here." Morning Glory stepped out from beside the throne with her most innocent expression.

"Um, I..." the pegasus could only stammer. The two mares up the staircase only laughed.

"It's alright, captain. If I punished guards for letting Miss Glory through, we'd have more prisoners than ponies to guard them. Go open the gates, please."

"Yes, Your Highness." The lieutenant slunk off in the most professional-looking way he could manage. The princess and Morning Glory waited until he left the room.

"Well, Princess, I should be going. I'm sure that my brother will be stumbling home shortly to attempt to wash off the smell of a night of carousing, and it's always fun to catch him." Morning Glory began walking towards the exit.

"You know, you talk about him all the time, but you've never snuck your brother up here to meet me or Luna."

"Ahaha," Morning Glory laughed delicately, "yes, well, he's never been terribly interested in coming up to see the palace. I'm afraid ambition doesn't run in the family, you know? Good day, Princess."

The princess stretched and adjusted her posture. The morning had been enjoyable and relaxing, but now she had petitioners to attend to. Very many whiny, self-interested, entitled petitioners. And she had to look nice for them.

"Oh, please tell me those aren't the Bluebloods I see coming in."


	2. Chapter 2

Flash Burn both loved and hated flying into the lower quarter of Everfree. On one hoof, because there were no tall buildings, she was free to take any course she pleased as long as she kept her altitude. On the other hoof, what fun was a good flight without a few obstacles? Still, it was best not to endanger the civilians. As captain of the Day Guard, she had a reputation to uphold, even amongst commoners. She could feel the admiring gazes of the lower-class ponies as she left a blazing trail above them.

All that aside, she wasn't out on a pleasure trip. She was hoping to find information on the notorious criminal Dark Blur, and her first stop was Shimmerstar Glassworks, where she hoped to run into one rather intelligent, informative, handsome colt with eyes that she could just get lost in sometimes, in order to ask him for information in a strictly business-like fashion. She had never actually visited the little shop, but years of patrolling and chasing criminals down every corner of the city gave her a near-perfect mental map of even the lower quarters. The belltower struck seven chimes as she landed in the square that the glass shop was located in. She saw an "OPEN" sign being flung out to hang in front of the shop window.

"Perfect timing" Flash Burn muttered to herself, satisfied. As she walked over, other ponies cleared out of her way, somewhat unnerved by the sudden presence of the Day Guard's captain in their part of town. She ignored them and rang the little glass chime hanging on the window. "Hello?"

Out from behind a divider appeared a blue unicorn with the most exotic hair Flash Burn had ever seen. It was pale, but glistened like a prism as she walked into the sunlight. The unicorn had a pleasant, soft, but genuine smile as she leaned forward over the counter. "Good morning. How can I help you today?"

"I, uh…" Flash Burn coughed, "yes, I'm looking for a unicorn named Twilight Sage. Have you seen him?"

"Twilight? Oh, yes, I have seen him. Just a couple days ago, he stopped by and took me to dinner. I haven't seen him since then, though, so I guess that's not very helpful, is it?" The blue unicorn tilted her head and looked nowhere in particular.

"Wait, what?" Flash Burn took a tiny step back. "Twilight Sage, the royal advisor, took you out to dinner?"

"Why, yes," the blue unicorn said returning back to the conversation. "He does that occasionally. Other times he just spends time here. Really, I like that better, but he insists that there's a proper way to go on dates. Odd, since he's never dated anyone before me. Maybe he reads books on dating." Her eyes drifted off to nowhere again.

"Who…who exactly are you?"

"Who exactly? Why, that's a very difficult question. I'm not sure that we can ever define ourselves exactly. We may strive for it in all our arts and creations, but I'm not sure we can ever know." This time, her eyes never even returned to looking at Flash Burn.

The pegasus gave an exasperated sigh. "What's your name, filly?"

"Oh!" the unicorn snapped back to reality. "My name is Shimmerdust. I run this glass shop now, but it used to belong to my dad. That's why it's Shimmerstar Glassworks and not Shimmerdust Glassworks."

"Okay," Flash Burn said, trying to keep herself from getting angry, "and how do YOU know one of Equestria's most important ponies."

"Oh, now, is anypony really more important than any other pony?" Shimmerstar managed to catch that Flash Burn was glaring at her intensely. "Well, he wasn't always such a bigshot. He used to live down here, you know. We've been friends ever since we were foals. But the dating is a bit more recent, I suppose."

Flash Burn looked down at her hooves. Twilight Sage really had a fillyfriend? They talked all the time, and he had never mentioned a fillyfriend. Though she had never really asked. In fact, most of their talking was composed of her trying to stammer out anything intelligible, and him trying to see if she was alright. The pegasus sighed.

"I'm sorry about that, I got a little lost in thought." Shimmerdust didn't respond. She was looking at nothing in particular again. Flash Burn rang the glass chime.

"Good morning! Welcome to Shimmerstar Glassworks." Flash Burn raised an eyebrow nervously. Had the unicorn really gone that far from reality? "Hey…I've seen you before. Welcome back!" Flash Burn went slack-jawed.

"Look, can I just come inside?"

"Oh, of course!" Shimmerdust disappeared and reappeared in the door next to the window. "Did you want to take a look at my gallery?"

"Actually, no," Flash Burn said as the unicorn closed the door behind her.

"Oh, shoot. Nopony ever wants to see my gallery." Shimmerdust looked at the ground and thrust out her lower lip in a pout. Flash Burn tried to say something, but couldn't get past the unicorn's pathetic expression.

"Fine, show me your gallery." The unicorn bounced into the air, and grabbed Flash Burn by the tail. "Hey, whoa!" She dragged the pegasus back behind the divider. Flash Burn's eyes were suddenly assaulted by shimmering colors. She had seen some glassworks at fancy houses in the upper quarter, but Shimmerdust's gallery room was something else entirely. Glass vases framed by glass candleholders, glass bowls and plates, glass goblets, and tiny glass figurines lined most of the shelves. Glass statues rested on top of chests, and a glass chess set was lit by colors from a stained-glass window. "How…? Who…?"

"Lots of practice, and me," Shimmerdust replied to the rhetorical questions.

"You said nopony comes back here? Then what do you sell?"

Shimmerdust sighed. "I may be an artist at heart, but that's not my job. I sell lenses. Most of the lower quarter comes here for their glasses, those who can afford them. If I had competition, I'd probably go out of business."

"Why don't you submit your work to a gallery?"

"All the galleries are in the upper quarter, at least here in Everfree. And I can't afford to travel outside the city, nor spend even a day away from my shop." She walked over to the chess set and used her magic to rearrange it to a new setup.

"I'm so sorry," Flash Burn said, moving closer. Shimmerdust smiled back at her.

"So, if you didn't want to see the gallery, what did you want to come inside for?"

Flash Burn snapped back to reality. She had work to do. "Well, I was hoping to find Twilight Sage to help me with a criminal investigation. Since he's not here yet, I thought I'd wait."

"A criminal investigation? Are you with the Guard?"

Flash Burn looked down. She was wearing her gilded armor, and she could feel the weight of her helmet on her head. "Uh…yeah."

"Oh, goodness, I've been a little rude, haven't I? Or have I? How is one supposed to act when the Guard comes to visit? I mean, I suppose if one is under arrest, then it's obvious, but…" Shimmerdust stared off into nowhere again.

"Why don't you just do what you normally do, and let me know when Twilight Sage gets here?"

"Okay!" That instant, Shimmerdust began loudly singing an old mariner's tune and used her magic to fire up the furnace. She was using a notably saltier version than the one Flash Burn had learned at summer camp.

"Maybe you can do-" Shimmerdust was singing too loudly for Flash Burn to hear herself. "MAYBE WITHOUT THE SINGING!"

"Oops, haha, sorry," Shimmerdust continued stoking the furnace. "I guess not everypony knows that version of the song."

"Don't worry, I won't be able to forget it." Flash Burn was sure that the heat on her cheeks was from furious blushing, and not the nearby furnace.

Morning Glory heard the bell-tower in the distance strike eight times as she reached a public house called the Bucking Farmer. For the benefit of the illiterate, a picture of a young earth pony thrusting out her rear legs was painted on the hanging sign. The building had once served as a different sort of establishment, and the new owner seemed to be happy to keep the name. It brought in enough customers. Still, the new establishment's reputation was solid enough that Morning Glory felt no shame walking in the front door.

"Good morning, Frothie," Glory called to the back of the bar. A middle-aged mare in an apron appeared from below the bar.

"Ah, ma petite liseron!" The mare ducked back behind the bar and reappeared with an apron in mouth. She placed it upon Morning Glory's back. "You are juste in time zis morning. I have to do ze brewing for mon petit today, so you will have to take of ze customers." Frothie pulled the knot tight.

"That's quite alright, Frothie. Have you seen my brother today?"

"Oh, non, he iz still out, I zink." She trotted to the back room of the bar.

"Perfect." Morning Glory retrieved a broom and began sweeping the inn floor. It would only be a matter of time before-

CRASH!

A dark grey pegasus with short black hair had plowed into one of the tables. He was doused in hot wheat porridge, and the customers with no more breakfast glared at him. He rose to his feet. "Ah, heh. I'll get you new ones, guys." He darted over towards Morning Glory. "I don't suppose you can give those gentlecolts their breakfast on the house." He gave her a big grin.

"Hurricane, from what I hear, you've been doing enough work to pay for it yourself." The pegasus' grin disappeared.

"Okay, I'll pay for it later. Just get them their food before they decide to make trouble." Morning Glory sighed, and then bit his ear and began dragging him to the back. "Ow! Ow ow owwwwww! Come oooonnnnnn!" She didn't let go until they were in the back room.

"Do you know with whom I spoke today?" Morning Glory glared directly into his eyes.

"Uhh…the Princess of Equestria?" The pegasus grinned again.

"Besides her."

"Sorry, not a clue."

"CAPTAIN Flash Burn." Hurricane's shoulders dropped. "Do you know what she said? She's been trailing a NOTORIOUS criminal named 'Dark Blur', and APPARENTLY, he lives in the lower quarter." Hurricane muttered something very quiet. "I'm sorry, I didn't catch that."

"It's THE Dark Blur," he said just a bit more audibly, obviously put out. "They could at least get it right."

"I don't care if they call you Little Miss Frou-Frou! When you told me that you were going to liberate your income for those who wouldn't miss it, you promised me that you would remain undetected!" Morning Glory was backing the pegasus into a corner.

"I was gonna! And then they saw me, so I figured I'd have a little fun. It just…got a little out of hoof."

"OUT of HOOF?" Hurricane gave a panicked look towards his back. Nothing but walls and ceiling . "You are now one of the most wanted criminals in all of Equestria! The most influential military commander in all of Everfree has a personal grudge against you! They are going to find out where you live! WHERE WE LIVE! What do you have to say for yourself?" Morning Glory was breathing heavily.

"Hey, they still haven't managed to catch me."

In the main room, all the customers turned their heads as a horrid wail issued forth from the back room.

"No more," Morning Glory ordered the crumpled heap on the floor. "Find a real job. If I ever hear one more word of this 'Dark Blur' character, our room will become MY room."

"At least I won't get kicked there anymore," whined Hurricane as he tried to uncurl from his fetal position.

"Now, I have customers to attend to. Go wash up, pawn off anything you have to, and start looking for a real employer."

"But-"

"GO!"

Hurricane blasted off from a standing start, leading a dark cloud sparking with lightning in his wake.

"I swear," Morning Glory muttered as she spooned more wheat porridge from the kettle.

"Smack her croup and pull her hair! That's the captain treats his mare!" Shimmerdust and Flash Burn collapsed into giggles after the last verse of the latest sea shanty.

"Oh, goodness. I haven't laughed that hard since…I don't even remember." Flash Burn wiped a tear from her eye. "Where did you learn all these songs?"

"Well," said Shimmerdust as she moved a new glass bottle to a cooling rack, "my dad, Shimmerstar, wasn't much for songs, but Granpappy North Star was still sailing when I was born. He loved spending time with me whenever he could return to Everfree."

"Your mom must have been furious."

"I bet she would have been." Shimmerdust was still smiling, but Flash frowned a bit.

"I'm sorry, I-"

"It's alright, I know. I never really knew her." Shimmerdust rearranged the chess board once again. "So, I guess you grew up with two parents?"

"Well, yeah. Sorta. I grew up with a maid. My parents just stopped in once in a while. They were both very big in the military."

"I guess we both followed in our parents' hoofsteps."

"Yeah, I guess so." There was a short silence.

"So-" Flash was cut off by the sound of a glass chime. Shimmerstar trotted to the front of the shop.

"Good morning! Welcome to Shimmerstar Glassworks."

The voice from the front of the shop was male. "Shimmerdust, you don't have to say that every time I visit."

"Oh, hi Sage!" Flash Burn's stomach turned to butterflies. She'd forgotten that she was awaiting the second-most awkward social situation of her life (nothing really compared to arresting her father for soliciting a prostitute). She briefly pondered fleeing before anyone could see her, but she remembered that she had a job to do. She was about to go up to the front before Shimmerdust appeared from around the corner again.

"Twilight Sage is here. You wanted to see him, right?"

"Ah, yes. Is he coming back here?"

"Yes." There was a pause. The pause went on.

"Um…is he coming back here now?"

"Oh, I wouldn't think so. The wheel on his cart broke, so he's trying to drag it. It will probably take him a while." Shimmerdust's eyes drifted off.

"Oh, for the love of-" Flash Burn darted out the front door. Twilight Sage was indeed trying to drag a one-wheeled cart, with books falling out continuously. "Let me help you with that."

"Oh! Captain, what are you doing here?"

"Looking for you. How many books did you bring?"

"A lot. Uh-" Twilight Sage stopped as he felt Flash Burn pushing the cart behind him. They both managed to get the cart inside the door, and then began picking up all the fallen books. "How did you know to look for me here?"

"The Princess told me where you were going." They both walked inside to find Shimmerdust staring at the cart of books.

"Uh…Shimmer?" Twilight Sage stepped forward to nudge the other unicorn.

"Mm?"

"What are you doing?"

"I want to see if they're reproducing in there." She wasn't even blinking.

Flash Burn walked up next to Twilight and leaned her head in. "You've known her longer. When she says stuff like that, is she making jokes?"

"I honestly never managed to figure that out," he whispered back. They both waited for a bit before deciding to give her a push to break her line of sight.

"Oh, am I in your way?" Shimmerdust obligingly moved to the other side of the cart, and she resumed her staring.

Sage cleared his throat. "So, you said you were looking for me?"

"Oh!" Flash Burn gathered her helmet from one of the benches. "I'm actually on an investigation. You've probably heard of 'Dark Blur'?"

"You mean 'The Dark Blur'? That's what your first report said he called himself." Flash Burn blushed. She knew Sage was smart, and that was why she was asking him in the first place, but he shouldn't have a better memory of her reports than she did.

"Yes, well, either way. I am trying to figure out where he might base his operations. You're pretty smart, I thought you might be able to figure it out."

"Ah, well, I suppose I can try, but I doubt I can do anything your Guard can't do. Shimmer, dear, could you grab me a piece of paper?"

"But there's so many right here," Shimmerdust intoned in a voice that sounded far away, still focused on the pile of books.

"A blank one, dear."

"Oh! Okay." Just like that, the unicorn trotted off and retrieved a paper from a drawer.

Twilight Sage pulled a pencil from his pouch. "Now, Everfree is roughly a series of concentric circles." He drew near-perfect circles on the paper. "All of The Dark Blur's targets have been in the upper quarter. Here here here and here, mostly." He drew tiny dots. "Now, The Dark Blur used to work low-profile, meaning he would want to have a minimal distance from target to base of operations, so there'd be less chance of being spotted carrying stolen goods. If we draw these lines…and these circles…a few triangles. Aha! Yes, there's a single common area that makes sense as a starting point. And, why, it's right here!" Sage dropped the pencil and looked at Flash Burn, whose mouth was agape. "Brilliantly done, Captain! You must have already narrowed the search down. I knew I'd be no help."

Flash Burn searched for words. "I…well, yes, I…what?"

"Oh, Captain Flash, that's impressive. I've never known anyone to be as good as my Sage at these things." Shimmerdust pressed uncomfortably close to Flash Burn.

"Okay, okay!" Flash Burn pushed the unicorns away. "Enough funning. I had no idea he was here. I was just looking for you, okay?" The other two looked crestfallen.

"Oh, sorry Captain. I forgot how much running my mouth put you off." Twilight smiled apologetically.

"It what?" Flash Burn inclined her head in, as if she had trouble hearing.

"Well, every time we talk, I start blathering, and then you start stammering and fly away." Flash Burn blushed. So he HAD noticed.

"Look, that's…I don't not-like you, okay? I just…it's hard to explain."

Shimmerdust rubbed her head against Flash Burn. "It's okay if you're a bit shy. Twilight's really shy, too. Did you know he never even took his novels to a publisher?" Twilight's face instantly contorted like he had just been pinched in a very uncomfortable place.

"Novels?"

"Darling, I'm begging you, please don't tell her."

"You haven't even mentioned them? Sage, how could you?" Shimmerdust dropped into a pout. There was a short moment as Sage attempted to keep himself from looking, but it was no use.

"Fine, you can tell her about them." Shimmerdust bounced back and spun to face Flash Burn.

"Ever since we were little, Sage has been writing about a powerful unicorn wizard who goes around and saves Equestria. He's such a brilliant hero. When he got out of school, he started to compile the old adventures into actual novels, and added more complex themes and nuanced side characters and everything. It was a complete overhaul, really. But Wonderbolt stayed the same. He's kind of a big ham, but it's really fun to read." Sage was blushing, and Flash Burn turned to address him.

"Wonderbolt?"

Sage sighed. "When you're the only unicorn you know with no magic, you really get some ridiculous fantasies."

Flash burn reached a hoof out towards his shoulder, but the space was quickly occupied by Shimmerdust. "Oh, come on, honey, you do have magic. I should know." She nudged him with a knowing smirk.

"Yes, please, dear, embarrass me even further in front of the Captain. I don't think she yet knows enough of my secrets." Sage rolled his eyes and sighed.

"Oh, okay. Well, Miss Flash, when we're alone, we-"

"I WAS BEING SARCASTIC!" At that point, the two unicorns seemed to notice that Flash Burn was blushing vividly and had her helmet tilted to hide her eyes. "I'm sorry, Captain, if we made you uncomfortable."

"I…I should go. Investigate." Flash Burn turned to walk out the door. Finding herself thinking about what her crush and the exotic mare might do in their alone time was much more than uncomfortable. Besides which, the morning was wearing on.

"I hope you can stop by again soon, Miss Flash."

Flash found herself standing in the town square. "Okay," she muttered to herself. "I think I need to go find somewhere to cry. Then I'll get to searching the area." She was about to take off to the sky, when she saw a familiar dark cloud with lightning burst from the door of a bawdy-looking public house.

Flash narrowed her eyes and bared her teeth. "Or maybe I can make somepony else cry."


	3. Chapter 3

"For the last time, no, the Crown will NOT sponsor a Royal Dressmaker's Academy without Senatorial approval." Celestia was doing her best to keep her voice calm. There was no law in Equestria that forced any member of the royalty to hold public court for petitioners, but she insisted on doing so anyway, for she wanted to hear the voice of the people. At least, that was the intent. Ever since the upper quarter had been cordoned off, however, almost all the petitioners who came in without making special appointment were aristocrats. Mostly, self-interested aristocrats.

"Your Highness," said the white unicorn in front of her, affecting an upper-class accent that Celestia herself avoided ever slipping into, "with all due respect, the Senate mostly holds representatives from the more," she coughed, "common class. Those ponies simply don't have any perspective on what is good for Equestria."

"The 'common class' IS Equestria, Karat-"

"Lady Karat," the unicorn corrected her with a dismissive sneer. Celestia barely kept herself from snarling.

"AND you would do well to remember it," Celestia attempted to assert her conversational authority. "You know that the founding of any such school would receive many tax reliefs and incentives, due to the laws that the Senate has already passed. Your endeavor already has plenty of support, and I'm sure that if you were to build in the lower quarter-"

"Good heavens!"

"IF you built anywhere other than Everfree's upper quarter, even, you would have no problem getting a land grant. But there's nothing that I, or anyone, can do about the land up here. It's all privately owned. Now, I will hear no more of this, unless somepony is acting in an illegal manner. And I mean a TRULY illegal manner, not violating some fine print that Senator Blueblood managed to slip in the latest bill. Are we clear?" Celestia realized that she had started leaning forward and spreading her wings, towering over the mortal pony. She retreated to a more regal posture.

"Yes, of course, Princess." The unicorn hardly sounded sincere, but Celestia wasn't willing to press the issue. She was already too tired to deal with any more aristocrats. She watched the unicorn trot away, and peered into the distance. "Lieutenant, you can send the next one in."

"Nopony else here, Your Highness," came a voice from the entryway.

"Oh, thank goodness." Celestia stepped down from her throne and closed her eyes. She allowed thoughts to float freely through her head. Though her usual petitioners were tiresome, she remembered that they were the most ambitious and petty of the upper class. Many ponies who were true of heart, such as Flash Burn and Amaranth, were also born and raised in the upper quarter. She had absolutely nothing against the rich ponies of the world. If only the nice ones would come to talk to her.

"Good afternoon, Princess," came a familiar voice from just beside her. Celestia opened her eyes to see the green pony that had run off in the morning.

"Oh, Amaranth. I'm glad you could make it back. Where did you get off to?"

"I." The green pony stared at the floor and shyly kicked a single hoof.

"Yes?"

"I ran into a wall."

"What?" Celestia took a step back.

"When Miss Glory surprised me, and I went running, I ran into the first corner I came across. I woke up to one of the guards checking if I had a concussion." Amaranth shrank a little.

"Goodness, are you alright?"

"Yes, I'm fine."

"Well, how about I get you lunch. I confess, I played a bit of a prank on you. I didn't mean for you to get hurt." Celestia bumped the earth pony's head affectionately.

"Oh, that's all right, Princess. I could tell that you were up to something. It's my fault I fell for it."

Celestia stepped back again. "You could?"

"Sure. Whenever you play a trick, you squint your eyes because your're trying not to grin. Princess Luna does it too. I think it's adorable." Celestia blinked. How many centuries of life had she gone without noticing that? Maybe it was new. Ponies change, after all, even immortal ones. Surely, in a thousand years, that tell would be completely gone.

"Still, I think I owe you. Besides, I could use the company of somepony who isn't conniving."

"Oh, of course, Princess. I don't even know how to connive." The Princess rolled her eyes. It was true: Amaranth was just about the least underhoofed pony in the entire city. However, he seemed to lack understanding of when that wasn't precisely a good thing.

"Well, where would you like to go?"

"Oh, I thought we would just eat here. Madamoiselle Gateau is just waiting for an excuse to use those strawberries that came in yesterday."

"My chef won't be in for another hour, I'm afraid, and she'll need the time to start on dinner."

"Oh. Where do you normally eat lunch, then?"

"Anywhere I like!" Celestia giggled a bit at her own joke. There wasn't a public eating establishment in Everfree that she hadn't been to at least once. She noticed that Amaranth was looking at her with confusion. "No, really, we can go anywhere. How about Zebraville? You haven't lived until you've had traditional zebra food."

"But there are restaurants with zebra cuisine all over Everfree."

"REAL zebra food."

"You mean they're all fake?" Amaranth looked positively aghast, even though most ponies knew that it was now common practice to serve more nativized food based on zebra dishes, rather than the more exotic fare that zebras were used to.

"Oh, come on, you." Celestia unfurled her wings and took to the sky. She only got a couple stories high before she remembered that Amaranth couldn't fly. She stopped. "Oh, sorry. Let me call for a carriage." She was about to whistle, when she heard a crackling sound behind her. She beat her wings just in time to dodge the streak of black cloud that had almost hit her. "That was clo-"

She did not dodge the blaze that was following it, and was met with the full force of Flash Burn colliding into her side. They both went tumbling to the ground, and the princess found Flash Burn struggling to stand on top of her.

"You idiot! I almost had him! What were you doing flying so high-ay-ayYOUR MAJESTY!" The guard pony sprung back and flattened herself to the ground. "I'm so sorry, Your Majesty! Please don't throw me into the dungeon, Your Majesty! I-"

"It's all right, Flash. Stand up, and tell me what happened."

Flash Burn stood up weakly. "Well, I went down to the lens shop exactly like you said, Your Majesty, but when I left, I saw Dark Blur leaving a...a house of ill repute. I raced to follow him, Your Majesty, but he must have seen me. I've been chasing him for hours, Your Majesty"

"You don't have to say 'Your Majesty' all the time, Captain," piped up Amaranth from beside the pair.

"I don't! Shut up!" Flash Burn was blushing furiously.

"Well, Flash, did you find out anything interesting at the glassworks?"

"Yeah. Twilight Sage has a fillyfriend," Flash Burn muttered more to herself than the princess.

Celestia giggled, "I meant something important to your investigation."

"Oh." The pegasus blushed even harder. "Well, whatever he may have been doing in that public house, Your Majesty, he probably lives near there, Your Majesty. Or maybe even in there, Your Majesty."

"Good work, Captain Flash. I think you deserve a break. Care to join us for lunch?"

"Can she order from the waitress without continually calling her 'Your Hospitality'?" Amaranth chuckled. Flash Burn shot him a glare that Celestia swore might actually set him on fire.

"I'm sorry, Your Majesty, but I should really get back to pursue leads. Enjoy your lunch, Your Majesty." With that, Flash Burn took off. Celestia turned to Amaranth.

"I know you were just trying to be funny, but that was a little mean."

"So was you sending her off to meet her crush's fillyfriend without warning her about it." Celestia looked aside guiltily.

"I know. But it's not good for her to be pining for a colt that she can't have, and I thought that would stop it fastest."

"There's no way of knowing." The two shared a silent moment.

"Why don't I go get a carriage? There are plenty more cheerful things that we can discuss."

"Okay." Celestia went to fetch the royal carriage, hoping she hadn't made a big mistake.

Morning Glory was wiping the tables in preparation for the lunch rush when a black cloud once again burst through the front door. Her brother fell to the ground panting.

"I hope you're out of breath because you've been very hard at work at a job you happened upon just after I sent you out."

Hurricane put his hooves on her shoulders. "You won't believe what happened! The instant you kicked me out, I looked behind me and I saw the Day Guard captain chasing me. I didn't even get a chance to put my hooves to the ground." He tried his best to look pathetic, but Morning Glory was having none of it.

"Did she see you leave here?"

"I…I don't know. Probably." Morning Glory smacked Hurricane across the face.

"Do you see what you've done now? Now the Guard is going to find you, you'll be arrested, and they'll find out that I'm related to a criminal. My reputation will be ruined!" There was a brief moment of silence.

"No, it won't."

"What do you mean? Of course it will. That's what happens to anypony who associates with criminals."

"I mean, they won't find me, because I won't be here. I didn't want to do this, but there's no choice. I have to leave Everfree."

Morning Glory stammered. "But…you can't! You don't have enough money for a passport. You won't be able to enter any walled city, or use a highway, and if they catch you flying-"

"I'll be banished. I will be sent outside Equestria and my face will be on a poster in every guard station. But they won't know who I am. Or that I'm your brother. And you'll be able to keep helping the little ponies, those who the rich want to keep down. That's what we've been fighting for this whole time. I can't let that go by." Hurricane started towards the door.

"Hurricane, you stay right here! We need to talk about this."

"No, we don't."

"But what will I tell dad? What will I tell your mother?"

"Exactly what I told you. They'll understand."

"But-" Morning Glory was about to raise a futher point, when the door opened right in Hurricane's face, causing him to reel back slightly. As he opened his eyes again, he stared directly into the orange inferno of Day Guard Captain Flash Burn's glare.

"Aww, horseapples."

"They really serve that here?"

"They do." Celestia wasn't even looking at her menu. She was well enough acquainted with zebra cuisine to know what to order.

"I've just never heard of anypony eating tree bark."

"It's a special kind of tree bark. Of course, it's not for the faint of heart, or weak of tooth."

"I'm just not sure." Amaranth was looking at the menu with a very dismayed expression. Though he was not unfamiliar with the plant names, being a hard-working gardener, it was not common practice to nibble on the Royal Garden (well, not for a pony, at least).

Celestia smiled. "Take your time."

"But I've already taken so long."

"Oh, it hasn't been that long."

"Wanna bet?" Celestia jumped at the voice from behind her.

"Luna? What are you doing out of bed?"

"I woke up, duh." Luna dragged a chair from another table and sat herself down. "It happens sometimes, you know?"

"I'm sorry, it's just that you can't have been asleep very long."

"Sis, do you know what time it is?"

"Well, of course, it's-" Celestia cut herself off. "How is it already two o'clock? I thought I finished with court before noon."

"You did," replied Amaranth.

"But we came here right after, didn't we?"

"We did."

"…Amaranth, pick something to eat already." Luna giggled at her sister. "Oh, come on, so I lost track of time a little. I don't know how."

"It's 'cause you're too patient for your own good." Luna stuck out her tongue.

"Well, aren't we in a cheerful mood," Celestia said, faking being offended.

"Sleeping during the day is waaaay more rejuvenating," Luna replied while stretching. "Honestly, I think everypony would be happier if they took afternoon naps and stayed up late to work instead."

"Gardening at night is pretty much impossible, though. So's farming." Amaranth was hardly looking up from his menu as he said this. Luna pouted and stuck her tongue out again.

"I think plenty of ponies would agree with you, Luna."

"Yeah, I just haven't met any." Luna folded up her legs and sunk her head down.

"Dear sister, if you insist on being so down, I'm going to have to tickle you."

"Wait, what?" Luna pulled her head from the table.

"You heard me." Celestia's narrowed her eyes menacingly.

"You wouldn't. Not in public."

"Wanna bet?" She got off her seat and began advancing around the table. Luna retreated.

"No. Nonono." They both sped up. "NononononononoNOOOOOOO!" The younger princess took off instantly.

"Oh, I'm gonna getcha!" screamed Celestia as she shot off in pursuit. They both disappeared into the sky.

A male zebra with an apron walked up to the table. "Have you decided, yet, sir?"

Amaranth slammed a hoof down delicately. "Oh, I just can't make up my mind! Princess, tell me what I should order." The green pony looked up to see both seats opposite him were empty.

"Princess?"


	4. Chapter 4

In the remains of a broken table, Flash Burn stood atop the body of a dark grey pegasus, pressing a single armor-clad hoof into one of his wings. The downed pony screamed piteously, and Flash pulled her hoof back to see that there was a smear of blood along its bottom.

"My wing! You broke my wing!" the pegasus screamed, choked-back tears in his voice. Flash Burn had never really seen his face before, and looking at it now, she could hardly believe her eyes. The notorious 'Dark Blur' hardly looked like any kind of hardened criminal. He was a handsome young stallion, who looked like he had never been in a fight in his life. She felt like she had just broken the body of a child. Flash fought to recall memories of the grey pegasus stealing valuable pieces of art and causing havoc for a great number of ponies.

"You are under arrest for grand theft, disturbing the peace, destruction of property, inciting mass panic, and resisting arrest. If you attempt escape again, I will not hesitate to break more." Flash pressed her head in to try and get the criminal to make eye contact, but his eyes were firmly shut in pain and fear. She decided to look somewhere else before she started to feel guilty about her sudden assault, and the first thing she saw was a very familiar earth pony. "Glory?"

"Captain, what is going on here?" Morning Glory was affecting a tone of respect that Flash found highly unusual. Then she realized that it was the sort that a civilian would normally take with an officer of the law.

"This pony is a criminal that I've been chasing for a while now. I'm bringing him in for questioning." Flash looked down. "Is that an apron? You work HERE?"

"Yes, I do." There was a slight pause, and Flash felt herself avoiding eye contact with the earth pony. "It's not that sort of establishment any more, dear, not since long before I was born." She felt relieved. Morning Glory's personal habits tended to bother her a bit, but that would have been much, much worse than anything she'd heard before.

"Okay, good." She noticed that most of her weight was still on top of the other pegasus. "Have you seen this man before?"

"A few times, I suppose. I always thought he was just another customer."

"I see." Flash looked down. There really was nothing that seemed menacing about the other pegasus. "Did he ever tell you his name?"

"I'm afraid not." Morning Glory started moving the pieces of table out of the way. "Really, there was nothing unusual about him."

"Well, we'll find out soon enough." Flash prodded the pegasus to make sure he was still conscious. "This one doesn't seem like he'll be hard to get answers from."

"You won't hurt him, will you?" Flash looked up and noticed that her friend had an unusual look of concern on her face.

"…no, we won't. Torture of any sort is more illegal than anything he's done. Unless we thought he was connected to a muder or something, it wouldn't even be considered."

"Oh, good." Morning Glory took an audible breath. "I hate to think of such horrible things being done to anypony."

"Right." Flash felt like something was off, but she chalked it up to paranoia. In a situation like this, acting on a snap judgment could be dangerous to innocent ponies. "Somepony gallop to the nearest guard station and alert them that Dark Blur has been restrained and is at this location."

"It's…" came a raspy voice from beneath her. The pegasus was trying to turn his head, but Flash Burn's hoof was keeping it down. "It's THE…Dark-"

"Quiet!" Flash increased the pressure on the young pegasus' head. "Glory, you don't have any rope here, do you?" Morning Glory shook her head. "Well, great. Keeping him pinned here is going to be a pain."

"Oh, I doubt you have to worry. He can't run nearly as fast as he can fly."

"Still, I'd rather not have to bother-" Flash shifted her gaze from the other pegasus to her friend. "How do you know?"

Glory stammered, "Oh, I have seen him before, and I suppose, well-oh, how wonderful, the guards are already here!" Flash turned her head and saw two ponies in guard uniforms walk in. However, the next thing she saw was a pink mane billowing into the door, followed by a familiar face.

"Princess Celestia?" both Flash and Glory cried out. The princess walked very slowly into the room. Her face was calm, but serious.

"What is going on here?"

Twilight Sage and Shimmerdust sat on opposite sides of the strange tube that now sat between them. It looked unfinished on the outside, but both ponies knew that the inside was a good deal more complex.

"Well," spoke up Shimmerdust, "I think we got it. I'll need to pick up something to use as knobs, but the inner mechanisms are just like you said they should be, and the lenses are definitely right."

"Yes," said Sage, not taking his eyes off it. "It's finally real. Tonight will be glorious."

"So what did you bring all the books for?" Sage looked to his side. Indeed, they had only opened five of the books he'd brought along, and those were only to double check the information Sage had already memorize.

Sage sighed. "I suppose now I have to tell you the real reason I came out here." He walked back over towards the cart and dug around in it.

"Real reason?" Shimmerdust tilted her head.

Twilight Sage finally pulled out a very old-looking tome and set it down. "I was translating this old tome when I found something amazing." He flipped the book open to a page that looked like a formula so complex that even a pony who spoke the old tongue would be completely lost.

"Funny symbols?"

"It's a spell, Shimmer. And not just any spell. This spell can calibrate a unicorn's magic to temporarily increase their power! This could let me use magic!"

Shimmerdust stood on her hooves. "But don't you need magic to cast the spell in the first place?"

"And that's why I'm here. I don't have magic, but you do." Sage pushed the book towards Shimmerdust.

"Oh, Sage. I can't even read that. I'm certain I couldn't cast it."

"Yes, well, there's a lot of preliminary reading and calculations to do. The spell here is a sort of shorthand for a number of processes. But, I'm sure that if we go over it all, you can do it."

"I just don't know. Sage, every time you've tried something to get magic, it's wound up with failure and a story that I'm not allowed to tell to any of our friends."

Sage leaned in, "Come on, dear. This is my childhood dream. You're the only pony I can trust with this."

"What about the princesses?"

Sage looked to the side. "I don't want them to know that I never really got over having no magic."

"Eh, we kinda had it figured out already." Sage froze. The voice coming from behind him was far too familiar. He slowly turned his head, and surely enough, Luna's smiling face was poking out from the cart of books.

"P-princess? How did you? Why?"

"Me and Celestia were playing around, and now I'm hiding. I'm surprised she hadn't stopped by here already."

"How long have you been in there?"

"Like five minutes." Sage saw that Luna was now looking behind him. "What's with your belle?" He turned and noticed that Shimmerdust was looking wide-eyed at the book pile.

"Honey?"

"They gave birth. And I missed it." Sage put his hoof to his face.

"No, dear, Princess Luna is a master of teleportation."

"Oh. That makes a lot more sense." Shimmerdust went back to looking at the book.

"So, since I already know, maybe I can take a look at the spell?"

Sage sighed. "I don't see why not." Luna jumped out of the pile, sending books everywhere. She went to the book, standing opposite from Shimmerdust.

"You know you're reading it upside-down, right?"

"But I think it makes more sense this way." Shimmerdust was moving her head back and forth, like she was trying to make sense of a magic-eye puzzle. Both Luna and Sage sighed.

"Well, Princess, how does it look?"

"Hard. You need to have a really good sense of a pony's magic to use it. I mean, it's supposed to be used on yourself." The princess suddenly stood up straight. "Heeeey! I have an awesome idea!"

Sage raised his eyebrow. "You do?"

"I can practice this spell on myself! Maybe if I use it, I'll become a fully-ascended goddess, or something."

"A what?" Luna shook her head.

"It takes many centuries for a goddess' magic to concentrate enough to give her full power. Right now, I'm kinda, like, half a goddess. So is Celestia, but she's older than me, so she's closer to ascending."

"Princess, the spell only lasts a day."

"But that's the best part! Look, I've had misadventures trying to speed up my ascension long before you were born. But this is temporary, so it's not going to screw with the natural order, right? I get to be the big cheese for a day, Celestia gets to take a break, and I learn a spell that you can get magic from. Everybody wins!" Luna reared up on her hind legs and clapped her front two hooves together in delight.

"Well…if you really think that's best, Princess."

Princess Luna's horn began glowing as she sank into concentration. "Just gimme a few minutes."

Celestia sat back upon her throne. Chasing Luna around had been fun, but seeing an arrest in progress reminded her that she still had work to do. She closed her eyes and began reviewing her remaining duties in her mind. There were five new laws that she needed to review and ratify, all of them excruciatingly long and full of unrelated addendums and minutiae. She was scheduled to visit the charity hospital in the lower quarter. At sunset, there was a knighting ceremony for some noble's brat, a mere formality that was a mockery of the old purpose of such practices. She calculated the amount of time she had. Even with speed-reading, and her powerful mind, the laws would take a good two hours. She needed to be at the hospital in an hour and a half. The knighting ceremony would last until her normal bedtime. She either needed to skip dinner or miss out on sleep. Celestia stifled a growl and wished that she kept her schedule on paper, so that she could throw it in the air and maybe tear it to pieces. Releasing the frustration as a sigh, she began to step down from the throne, when she heard hoofsteps at the entrance.

"Flash?" The guard pony walked up to the throne and bowed.

"Your Majesty, I need to see the prisoner. Do you know where he is now, Your Majesty?"

"That young man is in the hospital, having that broken wing you gave him healed." Celestia's voice was devoid of any anger, but Flash Burn still averted her eyes.

"I-Your Majesty, I needed to stop him before he could start moving. His flying is too good, Your Majesty."

"It may not be anymore. Healing wings is no easy business, even for unicorns. If it broke the wrong way, he may never fly the same again." Flash Burn sank lower to the ground. "But why are you concerned? I thought he was quite the notorious criminal, wasn't he?"

Flash closed her eyes. "Yes, Your Majesty, but…I'm not sure how to say it. I've seen hundreds of criminals, Your Majesty, and all of them had wickedness in your eyes. I saw this colt's eyes…and I don't know. I just don't know." Celestia stepped forward and brushed her head against the pegasus'.

"You didn't do anything wrong, Flash. But perhaps you shouldn't see him. He'll be there tomorrow, and you really need to take a break. I think you should call it quits for the day."

"I can't, Your Majesty," Flash Burn said standing upright once more, "We have that knighting ceremony for Lord Pearl Comb's son, remember?" The princess winced as if she'd just been smacked.

"Right, well, just promise me you'll take it easy until then. I can tell when a pony's had a longer day than the hours should allow." They gazed into each others' eyes. They were both far too tired.

"I understand, Your Majesty. I'll see you in a few hours, Your Majesty." The captain trotted off, leaving Celestia alone again.

"And now I have 50 minutes to get work done," Celestia groaned.

"I pronounce you Lord Pearl Wine." Princess Luna and Princess Celestia lifted their horns from the young Stallion's shoulders. His eyes were full of emotion, as if this was something he was lucky to have. Celestia felt a tiny bit of joy in that, though her own expression remained placid. "You may rise." The new Lord stood and slowly walked away from the throne, as the quiet but pervasive applause of his family and their allies filled the throne room. Soon, the other ponies were adjourning to the banquet room. Celestia moved to follow them, but she noticed her sister going in the opposite direction.

"Luna? Where are you going? You normally like these banquets more than I do, with all the gossip that goes on."

Luna turned and gave her sister a smile. "Oh, I just thought I'd get some work done. It's not like anypony will notice I'm gone."

"They will, Luna, and they might take offense. Just come for an hour?"

"Sorry, sis, but there's a lot to do. Just tell them that I was called away to something, okay?"

Celestia sighed. "Fine. Just remember that you have to hold court tonight."

Luna stopped dead in her tracks. "Crap!" she yelled, loud enough to echo in the throne room. Celestia felt herself blush, and she lowered her head.

"Language, Luna," she whispered, as if it would make ponies less likely to hear what had already been said. Luna began walking off with loud, angry hoofsteps.

"You're lucky that you made me promise," she whined. And, yet, up to her chambers she went. Celestia turned to the banquet, wondering what she would use as an excuse. At least it would be sometime until anypony asked her.

"Oh, Princess, where has your sister gone?" asked a younger mare.

Celestia grinned to hide her nervousness. "Uh…she had to…wash her hair?" The mare's bewildered face clearly indicated that she hadn't bought it, but she said nothing and went to join the party.

Celestia lowered her voice to a mutter. "Crap."


End file.
